Rumblings xtra: Items that didn't make print edition

Browns’ rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden probably begins the season Sunday with lower expectations than the other two Big 12 rookie QB’s – Washington’s Robert Griffin III and Miami’s Ryan Tannehill – but he carries the same stigma as the others: The league’s recent high profile quarterbacks haven’t had huge success once the made it the NFL.

Former Texas star Vince Young probably is at the head of this group; after leading Texas to the national title in 2006 and getting drafted No. 3 overall, he never reached the stardom projected for him. He was recently cut by the Buffalo Bills. Sam Bradford, Jason White, Josh Heupel, Colt McCoy are among the other recent Big 12 stars.

Bradford, the No. 1 pick in 2010, is 8-18 in two seasons with the Rams but has been slowed by injuries. McCoy lost the Browns starting job to Weeden.

Griffin -- the Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor known as RGIII who was picked No. 2 in the draft -- will get most of the scrutiny early this season, as ESPN analyst Jon Gruden recently noted.

"I think the big question RG3 [Griffin] has to answer is why haven't any of the Big 12 quarterbacks really hit the lottery lately in the NFL," Gruden said.

The Crew’s 2-0 loss to a struggling New England club could be costly, as unfair as that seems for a team that had been riding a four-game winning streak. They are in fifth place in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference and five teams makes the playoffs; they now have 10 days off and no longer have an advantage in games in hand with most of the teams near them in the standings.

The road is also going to be more challenging down the stretch. The schedule gets more difficult; the four-game winning streak came against the four teams at the bottom of the conference standings. They have seven games left, and three are with teams above them in the standings. Two of their next three games are with New York and Chicago, second and third in the conference standings.

If they remain in the hunt until the final game, the advantage swings to their favor: The last game of the regular season is against Toronto FC, last the MLS with 21 points and a 5-16-6 record.

After several Michigan State football players mocked Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on Twitter for his unimpressive performance against Alabama last Saturday -- redshirt freshman safety Kyle Artinian reportedly tweeted "DENARD IS SOOOO BAD! And it makes me feel so good” – Dantonio made it clear that he thought the tweets were “disrespectful” and he would address the matter with his players.

All the tweets making fun of Robinson were later deleted, likely on Dantonio’s orders. Michigan State visits Michigan on Oct. 20 and is after its fifth win in a row over the Wolverines.

"You need to approach this game with humility," Dantonio said. "When this becomes personal, that's when it crosses the line."

Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson stoked the fires of the Tigers upcoming opponent – Georgia – this week and got in a dig at the Big Ten, too. When he was asked if he watched the Bulldogs 45-23 win over Buffalo, he said he had.

"I watched that game, he said. “I turned it off, too. . . It's like watching Big Ten football. It's old-man football. If we execute, nobody in this league can touch us. Period."